Chapter 8

Hi! I can say that this chapter wasn't easy to write even if it is not that long. Enjoy!

Forest of Secrets

The Wendigo

By Spencer Reid

"This story is one of wendigos. Some says they are gaunt and cruel creatures with rotten flesh and skin, some said they are monsters made of ice. One thing is sure, it's the fact they eat human flesh. They just can't stop themselves because they sold their heart to winter's demons to survive the bitter cold. When they do so, they only have a piece of ice instead of the heart, that's why they can't love anymore. My story happened a thousand years ago, a young Indian boy was walking in the forest…"

He almost remembered this story by heart because he had read it again and again; it was his favourite one, a young Indian boy fighting a wendigo who had devoured his parents. It was the next step of his plan, the next surprise for Emily, Spencer and Jordan. He had planned everything; he just needed a new prey. Who would he choose this time?

It had to be a bigger prey than Trisha. Suddenly, it was all clear to him; he knew who he would take…

Walking in the forest was like a journey to the past. Spencer never thought he would ever come back here, neither did Emily. He would recognize everything though it had been years since the last time he came, he was following the path near the river as if it was natural for him. There was something almost calling for him in this forest. He remembered a verse from Edgar Poe's poem, The Raven; the narrator was talking about the place he lived in:

...whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted...

This forest fitted somehow this descriptions, it was deserted from human's presence except for theirs, it was undaunted and to him enchanted. One look at Emily was enough for him to see that she was feeling this nostalgia and enchantment, the others were either admiring the forest's beauty or weren't caring at all.

This forest was their real home when they were kids, here they felt secure in spite of all the dangers they could encounter. They knew this place, they weren't getting beaten or bothered, it was as if the forest was alive and accepting them here. It was still their home in fact.

For Morgan, Elle and Hotch, it was quite strange to see Reid so at ease here. The genius was often clumsy but here he seemed perfectly comfortable. His moves were almost fluid and assured in such a big and dense forest. One other thing which was astonishing was the fact that children had been in there on a regular basis without ever getting badly hurt, even the cops who were with them seemed quite lost in here. They had taken some cops as well as two forensic in case they would find something the Unsub left. For now they hoped they weren't going to get lost themselves.

"Reid, you are sure you remember the way?" Asked Morgan

"Don't worry, I could find my way here blindfolded."

"Remember he has an eidetic memory," reminded Elle. "You two are at ease here."

"It's normal, we went here often," replied Spencer, "it's actually normal to be at ease in a place you know well. We didn't come here since long, Emily and I, but it's a big part of our childhood. You can't even imagine how much time we spent here."

"Especially during summer," Emily added, "but even in winter we would come, we weren't that scared of the cold. That place was beautiful under the snow. That's when Spencer got the brilliant idea to tell us a story about wendigos, right here in the forest in the middle of winter."

"What's a wendigo?"

"It's a native American's legend about men transformed into some kind of monster after resorting to cannibalism during winters," Emily summed.

"Look, the cave!"

Spencer pointed toward a hole that was barely visible beside the river, the team wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't showed it. They went to it and Hotch entered first. Soon enough he saw no one was there.

"Clear! You can come in!"

There was a sleeping bag here, some food and candles. Someone had been living there and the team was pretty sure it was their killer. The few cops who came with them stayed outside in case the killer decided to show up. They would need to take some of the stuff here in the lab, to obtain some DNA and fingerprints. The forensics took pictures first, before examining the stuff here with the help of the team.

"Shouldn't we leave that here, in case the Unsub come back?" Asked Elle

"If the killer comes back, the cops here will take him."

Elle nodded, feeling a little uneasy, she didn't want to sound ignorant, she was still a little new to this job and she didn't want her position to be questioned. Emily was also feeling uneasy but not for the same reasons. It was as if their whole childhood, its secrets and mysteries, she would even dare to say its mysticism, were being violated. When they had been kid, their imagination had run wild, giving them an escape from the adults' violence, they invented not only stories, but also legends about this forest, about this cave, it was their sanctuary, their secret lair, it belonged to them as much as they belonged to this place. For years they had been a part of this forest, part of its secrets and enchantments, they were like spirits of the woods, they knew it better than a lot of people. No matter how hard their childhood had been she had good memory of the woods. Now their sanctuary was being inspected by the FBI with the help of the police. If she had witnessed that as a child, she would have certainly been sick.

She was reflecting over this when she spotted something red behind a rock. She took it and felt a wave of sadness when she saw this: a notebook. It was Gray's one, she recognized it. There was another one, a blue one. The third notebook, Gary used three notebooks to write their stories, she remembered it now. He had shown them the notebooks proudly before disappearing. He wanted the do a fourth one...

"Spencer..." she called weakly.

The young man went to her and saw what she discovered. He went pale, it was such a shock to see those notebooks again...The rest of the team also approached and saw that.

"He left those here, it's definitely a sign that he'll come back here," Morgan said.

"I'll tell the cops, this place needs to be watched days and nights," Hotch said.

He went out and gave his instruction, while Elle took the notebooks delicately to put those in plastic bags. She looked at Spencer and Emily.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah it's just weird to see those again," Emily explained while Reid nodded silently.

She gave them a small smile, not knowing what she should says, she didn't really know any of them. Morgan was watching the scene in silence, he would try to talk to them but later, right now he felt that they needed space. They continued to collect what could be useful to them and finally left the place so they could make a point with the rest of the team while the scientist would take a look at the proof they got.

While the rest of the team was in the forest, Gideon was examining pictures of the crime scene while JJ was contacting friends and relative of Trisha who could be useful to them and Jordan was looking through some files about Gary Michaels, more precisely the witnesses declarations, searching for anything helpful. Jenifer wondered how Gideon could let a civilian look at this; after all it wasn't really usual for civilians to look at FBI files like this, but Gideon seemed to think it was okay, as well as Hotch. It was a way to see if any of the witnesses' declaration could help her remember something useful.

"There is something strange," said Jordan while reading Gary's mother declaration to the police.

"What is it?"

"Well, Gary's mother told the police she remembered being attacked by a masked man; she even gives a description of the fight they got."

"Why is that bothering you?" Asked JJ who couldn't get her point

"When you get hurt on the head, you can't remember what happened so precisely just before. I worked in a hospital for some times and usually people don't have a clear memory of what happened when they got badly knocked out."

JJ and Gideon looked at each others, realising that she was right, something sounded wrong. Jason took the file and read it again, he then realised that something else sounded wrong: when she had called the police, she said that she got knocked out and that her son got kidnapped. Why kidnapped? Why was she sure he was kidnapped, how could she had known what happened to him? If she was unconscious while her son disappeared, how did she know? He told that to Jordan and JJ, now he was suspecting that Mrs Michael was responsible in her son's disappearance.

"She could have killed her son and make the police believe that it was a kidnapping," agreed Jenifer, "but today she is still in jail, isn't she?"

"She is, she killed her cellmate in jail and got fifty years in addition to her original sentence. But she certainly had an accomplice," assured Gideon, "she got hit by behind, she couldn't have done that by herself."

"And now he is obsessed over Gary and his old friends."

"It could be very instructive to pay her a little visit, at least once the rest will be back, I want to know what they found first. Miss Todd, tell me if there was anyone close to Gary's mother, at least enough to help her."

"Hum…There were maybe the pastor, she was often talking to him if I remember well. She had some friends, but I can't remember who…"

She interrupted herself and felt a wave of coldness as a memory hit her violently, a memory she truly hated. Gideon and JJ saw her sudden torment but waited for her to talk.

"She had a brother…Gary had an uncle named Clyde who came to visit his sister once, I…"

She took a deep breath and gathered her courage. It was hard to remember it, and even more to talk about what happened.

"I remember that one day, he had seen us playing near Gary's house, and he came to play with us a little. We were happy at first, he was carrying us on his shoulders and all, and adults were rarely that nice with us."

"But it wasn't out of kindness," continued Gideon for her.

"No it wasn't. He proposed us to play another game and he…He took out a flask of his pocket, it was filled with Whisky, he told us to drink some, Spencer refused but Clyde insisted and we all felt obliged to obey. I was very uneasy, things had taken such a different turn, I could feel something wrong was going on and I just wanted it to stop. It was pure Whisky and we were kids so it didn't take much to make us feel dizzy and I couldn't think clearly anymore. That's when he…He demanded Gary and I to kiss each others."

Both Gideon and JJ were horrified except that Gideon didn't show it in order not to disturb Jordan.

"Not just an innocent kiss, a real French kiss. I was completely paralysed at this moment, I didn't know what to do anymore, I was so scared. He pushed me to Gary and we were too scared to disobey so we did it. Gary knew how to kiss like an adult, because of…his mother."

"How old were you?"

"Nine. I remember Spencer was yelling it was wrong, but Clyde told him that he had to do it if he wanted to be a man, he wanted he and Emily to kiss too. Spencer refused again so Gary's uncle pushed him toward Emily but she slapped him," explained Jordan with a smile. "I'll never forget that, Spencer threw a stone at him just after and they ran away, Gary and I followed. We ran through the forest and hid, he tried to catch us but he failed, even with the alcohol we were fast and we knew the woods well while they were unknown to Clyde. We stayed hidden for hours. I don't know what happened to Gary when he came home. Emily, Spencer and I got beaten…as usual," she said the last words with bitterness. "Clyde left the day after; I could barely look at Gary in the eyes for days after that."

A silence settled between them, and Jordan felt as if she was nine again, ashamed of what happened. Jenifer cleared her throat.

"Are you sure nothing else happened?" Asked she gently

"No, at least not to me, Spencer or Emily; Clyde came back once but Gary warned us and we hid away from him. We never saw him again. I don't know if he abused Gary in another way however."

"Alright, I'll call Garcia and ask her to find him," said JJ.

She left, Gideon and Jordan were now alone. The man sat before her, he had to talk to gthe young woman.

"You never told that to anyone?"

"No. I don't think the others did either."

"Why not?"

She didn't like those questions, she knew it would happen when she told them about this, yet she didn't like it.

"I don't know...I didn't want to. My grandparents would have certainly blamed us. And when our parents took us back, it happened a long time ago already so it was useless to say anything to them."

"Not even when you would hide in your house to avoid him? You never thought about telling your grandparents?"

"Sir, we wouldn't hid in their house, we would hide in the forest. It was somehow our true home."

Gideon nodded, reflecting that it was sad that a forest full of wild animals had been more of a shelter for those kids than the houses they lived in.

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